Global banking giant JPMorgan Chase has revealed its increased exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency through BlackRock's Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
JPMorgan maintained 5.2 million IBIT at the end of the third quarter
In its most recent 13-F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), JPMorgan disclosed its holding of 5,284,190 shares of IBIT stock, BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, as of September 30. This third-quarter figure represents a sharp 64% increase in the company's exposure to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
JPMorgan's IBIT holdings, which were worth about $333 million as of Sept. 30, are now worth about $312 million. While the bank's expanded status places it among one of the major institutional holders of BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF, it still stands behind other firms, such as Goldman Sachs, with much larger holdings. Goldman Sachs revealed that it owned 30.8 million shares of IBIT in the first quarter of 2025.
Furthermore, a filing with the SEC shows that JPMorgan held $68 million worth of IBIT call options and $133 million worth of options as of September 30.
The increased investment in spot Bitcoin ETFs is consistent with the bank's forecast for the prices of the major cryptocurrency. In a recent report, strategist Nikolaos Panigirzoglou and his team shared that deleveraging in the cryptocurrency derivatives market, especially perpetual Bitcoin futures, appears to be mostly over.
JPMorgan analysts revealed that the recent rise in gold volatility has made BTC a more attractive investment option on a risk-adjusted basis. Using this gold-based model, critics have argued that Bitcoin is somewhat undervalued compared to gold and could see a significant upward move to around $170.00 over the next 6 to 12 months.
As of this writing, Bitcoin's price is around $102,900, reflecting a jump of more than 1% over the past 24 hours. However, the leading cryptocurrency remains in the red on medium-term time frames. According to CoinGecko data, the price of BTC has fallen by more than 6% in the past seven days.
BlackRock's IBIT has been struggling in recent weeks
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF has struggled somewhat over the past few weeks, recording significant withdrawals in the last two weeks. According to data from SoSoValue, the exchange-traded fund recorded a weekly net inflow of more than $403 million in the previous week.
Excluding its performance on Friday, November 7, it looks like BlackRock's IBIT will record a weekly net inflow of around $450 million. However, the iShares Bitcoin Trust still ranks as the largest spot BTC exchange-traded fund with $80.58 billion in net assets under management.
The price of BTC on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from JP Morgan, chart from TradingView
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